Target Professional Services Ltd - legit company?

euronorris

Hi All,

My OH's mother recently received a letter for him, at her address (his old address) from this company. Neither of us have heard of it before, and we've done a little research but are still none the wiser as to whether it is legit, or just a scam.

In the letter, they state that they are trying to locate to him to talk to him about an old pension he had with his employer. Odd thing is, he still works for this employer, just in a different country. Alarm bells rang because, his employer has his current and correct contact details (of course), so why wouldn't the pension company?

Their website says that they trace ex-employees to check the information is correct and up to date (apparantly, a legal requirement recently bought into force - is that even true?).

I've checked Companies House and they are a registered company. I've also tried a google search for reviews about them, but didn't get any results with reviews. So I'm still none the wiser as to whether they are genuine or not.

Can anyone shed some light for us please?

Thanks.

McKneff

They will tell you anything to get a fee.

stay clear is the best advice I can give and Im sure others will too.

euronorris

That's what we are both thinking. Was just surprised not to have found any reviews of them online.

OH's plan is to ignore them, and ask his work if they know anything about them. Admittedly, his company did change hands several times, and they f**ked up his pension royally at one point (resulting a compensation payout!). And then he moved to Belgium, before moving here. But he's always maintained his UK pension, and continued to pay into that, so I find it very odd that this company has contacted him.

I also wondered if they are actually a debt collection company, using the pension as a guise to draw him in. As far as OH is aware, he is debt free, and as he left the UK 9 years ago, hasn't taken out any new debt there. There was an incident where his brother used his CC without his consent (I know!!), but the company refunded the money when he reported it as stolen. But other than that, he can't think of anything.

Just have to wait and see what his work says to be 100% sure.

dzug1

Difficult to tell if they are genuine or not - my guess is that they are and that different bits of his employers organisation are not very good at talking to each other

Don't agree to pay them any money though - if they are what they say they are his employer will be paying them

If they are debt collectors then there should be nothing to fear - but they can be a nuisance even if they can actually do nothing.

dunstonh

some pension schemes will use third parties to trace people. So, it could be genuine.

he can always ask the pension dept for that particular pension.

euronorris

Thanks. He is going to ask his work to confirm their involvement (or not, as the case may be).

The letter was so short, it just basically said we're looking for you in respect XX pension, on behalf of xx company. Please call us on xxxx number.

We would never pay them a penny, don't worry about that! lol As you say, anything his company has instigated is at their cost, and not his.

IF it is a debt, we just don't want to acknowledge them at this stage, as it is his Mum who will get all the grief and not us. Plus, we don't know what it's about. So, IF it is def not to do with his pension, then we'll access his credit rating through Experian and see what we can find there (if anything).

dlorde

If you need to check your credit rating, remember that you can do it free via 'Noddle', as described in MoneySavingExpert news - here.

euronorris

Thanks dlorde. I will let OH know. He was back in the office today, so hopefully got some answers. Apparantly, another letter arrived over the weekend, saying exactly the same thing.